“We feel it necessary to clear up a very important point that was unprofessionally misreported when the story broke. Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann were NOT involved in what transpired,” the pair said in a statement published on the Naughty Dog website.

“It was very upsetting to us that dozens of stories were run, linking back to the same hurtful accusations in the original report. As co-presidents of Naughty Dog, we are responsible for all studio affairs.

“Normally, we wouldn’t respond to rumours and speculation on matters that are internal to Naughty Dog, but because the personal reputation of two of our employees is being damaged we needed to set the record straight. There is nothing left to be said on this subject. Now we’re going back to what we should be focused on – making games.”

The news of Hennig’s departure was broken yesterday by IGN, citing anonymous sources after Sony and Naughty Dog did not supply comment by time of publication. The report was later confirmed by Sony, verifying IGN’s claims, but this new statement apparently repudiates the claim that there was some sort of ill-feeling or political machination behind Hennig’s exit.

Naughty Dog is currently working on a new Uncharted game for PlayStation 4, which we’re calling Uncharted 4 or Uncharted PS4 for convenience’s sake, as well as the final, multiplayer-focused DLC pack for The Last of Us. Hennig’s departure won’t affect Uncharted, the developer said yesterday. We’re expecting some sort of reveal from the studio soon.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2014/03/07/uncharted-creator-not-forced-out-of-naughty-dog-co-presidents/feed/15The Last of Us development has concludedhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/05/15/the-last-of-us-development-has-concluded/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/15/the-last-of-us-development-has-concluded/#commentsWed, 15 May 2013 20:56:26 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=367249The Last of Us has finished development, lovelies. Start your excited dance now. The news was announced via an Instagram picture posted by Naughty Dog co-president Christophe Balestra earlier today. Likely, this means it’s golden and ready to be shipped to the pressers for distribution. About time, eh? The Last of Us releases June 14 worldwide exclusively on PS3.
]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/15/the-last-of-us-development-has-concluded/feed/18Naughty Dog won’t repeat “mistakes” of previous console transitionhttp://www.vg247.com/2013/02/19/naughty-dog-wont-repeat-mistakes-of-previous-console-transition/
http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/19/naughty-dog-wont-repeat-mistakes-of-previous-console-transition/#commentsTue, 19 Feb 2013 05:26:06 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=341369Naughty Dog learned from the PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3 transition, co-presidents Christophe Balestra and Evan Wells have said, and is better prepared for the jump to PlayStation 4.

“We had a pretty bad experience when we moved from PS2 to PS3, because we made some stupid mistakes. And that was totally our fault,” Balestra told Eurogamer.

The executive said the huge leap between PS2 and PS3, with an entirely new kind of shaders, was part of the problem, and that Naughty Dog “had a lot to learn”. This time around, the team has “little more time to think about” the “always scary” prospect of a transition.

“It’s about the quality of the tools, and about whether you can make something smarter. My guess is that they will expand – you’ll have more this, and more that – you’ll always have something more,” he said.

“In terms of our art, we always create our assets at a higher resolution than what you see in-game. A lot of our pipelines are already ready to move to something superior to the PS3. But it’s scary.”

Wells said things should be easier this time because Naughty Dog isn’t starting all over again like it did with the PS2.

“We did start from scratch going from PS2 to PS3, and that’s down to the fact that on PS2 we’d written our own programming language. Everything on Jak and Daxter was written in a language called GOOL – game object oriented list,” he explained.

“Moving on to PS3 we are entering this group of developers that we could share technology with. We wanted to get into the more traditional development environment that other studios are developing with, so we did have to start from scratch. It was a tough road to hoe.”

Naughty Dog’s next release is The Last of Us, due in May, it’s not known if the studio has a PlayStation 4 game in development ahead of the console’s expected reveal at the February 20 PlayStation Meeting.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/19/naughty-dog-wont-repeat-mistakes-of-previous-console-transition/feed/0Naughty Dog not keen on “terrifying”, “tough” next-gen transitionhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/12/20/naughty-dog-not-keen-on-terrifying-tough-next-gen-transition/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/20/naughty-dog-not-keen-on-terrifying-tough-next-gen-transition/#commentsTue, 20 Dec 2011 03:57:47 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=223232Uncharted developer Naughty Dog isn’t champing at the bit for a new generation of hardware, finding the shift from one machine to another something of a nightmare.

“The geek inside you is always excited about a shiny new toy, but then the practicality of it starts to set in: this is going to be a lot of hard work,” co-president Evan Well told Eurogamer.

“When you’re going to new technology, every day is a slog, progress is slow and it really takes a different kind of attitude and mentality to get through that kind of push and it’s not right for everybody.”

Naughty Dog has weathered transitions before, and Well described the move from PS2 to PlayStation 3 as the studio’s “darkest days”.

“We lost people on a weekly basis – people just couldn’t get through it,” he said.

“It’s tough and we’re definitely walking into it with open eyes,” he added, describing hardware transitions as a “double edged sword”.

“We made some mistakes with our move from PS2 to PS3 and we won’t make those again. I guess we’ve done it a couple of times,” he added.

The Sony-owned Naughty Dog’s second team is currently working on new PlayStation 3 exclusive The Last of Us, but Balestra said the Uncharted team, currently engaged in post-launch support for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, hasn’t settled on a new project yet.

“I think the team’s going to regroup and we’re going to figure out what’s going to be the next move is for that team,” he said.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/20/naughty-dog-not-keen-on-terrifying-tough-next-gen-transition/feed/30Second Naughty Dog team at work on The Last of Us for two yearshttp://www.vg247.com/2011/12/13/second-naughty-dog-team-at-work-on-the-last-of-us-for-two-years/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/13/second-naughty-dog-team-at-work-on-the-last-of-us-for-two-years/#commentsTue, 13 Dec 2011 00:20:08 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=221656A few more scanty details on Naughty Dog’s newly-announced The Last of Us have been harvested from around the web.

On Twitter, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann confirmed the game has been in development for at least two years.

A lack of network play is noted on the game’s PlayStation UK site, and it’s listed with a PEGI 18 rating. Now on its fourth original property, Naughty Dog has until now shied away from releasing a game rated for adults.

Asked about the trailer’s dark, horror tones by the US PS Blog, co-president Christophe Balestra agreed it shows a maturation of the developer as a whole.

“We’re growing right, as our audience [is], and we want to just take another step in that direction. It’s something we wanted to do, so we took our chances with The Last of Us,” he said.

Discussing the game’s surprise reveal, Balestra noted that Naughty Dog has split into two teams, with the other presumably at work on post-release support for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

“We were surprised we were able to keep it secret so long because we’ve been adding a second team for a long time now, and we’ve been giving hints to the players. Nobody knew it was from Naughty Dog,” he said.

“It was terrifying. Every single step of the way, when we were updating the website, we were afraid we were going to leak something out, and we just really wanted to keep it under wraps,” fellow co-predient Evan Wells added.

“Christophe said it was important for us to maintain the secret. I think it’s unprecedented in the video game industry to hold a secret like that this long.”

The developer isn’t ready to talk about he game in detail yet, but Wells said there’s information out there for those with a mind to find it.

“Keep watching the trailer over and over again,” he urged. “Lots of clues, and little teases in there about what the game’s about.”

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/13/second-naughty-dog-team-at-work-on-the-last-of-us-for-two-years/feed/1Uncharted 3 demoed live on Jimmy Fallon – watch it herehttp://www.vg247.com/2011/06/16/uncharted-3-shown-on-fallon-watch-it-here/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/16/uncharted-3-shown-on-fallon-watch-it-here/#commentsThu, 16 Jun 2011 09:29:23 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=180352Naughty Dog co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra appeared on Jimmy Fallon overnight to show off Uncharted 3 after previous showings of Gears 3 and MW3 earlier this week. The clip shows the latter part of the E3 demo shown during the Sony press conference last week at E3. And yes, there’s more screaming. Watch it below the break. Battlefield 3′s up tonight.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception launches in the US on November 1 for PS3.

]]>http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/16/uncharted-3-shown-on-fallon-watch-it-here/feed/16Sony: More Uncharted NGP details to drop next Thursdayhttp://www.vg247.com/2011/05/24/sony-more-uncharted-ngp-details-to-drop-next-thursday/
http://www.vg247.com/2011/05/24/sony-more-uncharted-ngp-details-to-drop-next-thursday/#commentsTue, 24 May 2011 07:08:12 +0000http://www.vg247.com/?p=172747Sony’s confirmed that more details on Uncharted NGP will arrive on June 2, four days before the start of E3 week.

It follows confusion last week on where the game’s story was based upon. Eurogamer said that it was set during Uncharted 1 and 2 via remarks made by Naughty Dog president Christophe Balestra in an interview with a French website.

Balestra later clarified his remarks by saying it actually takes place before Drake’s Fortune, the first title. It’s through this clarification that Sony confirmed to Joystiq that new details would drop next Thursday.

Balestra told GamesBlog.fr that the title will have a different pacing than its console brothers due to it being a handheld offering, which has led to developer Sony Bend to have more exploration bits than gunfights in the game, enabling you to play in short bursts.

In terms of story, this is where it gets confusing. Eurogamer says it takes place between Drake’s Fortune and Among Thieves, and is seen as a “parallel” story.

But Balestra has backtracked on his previous comments, saying that it takes place before Uncharted 1.

Expect more from Uncharted NGP from E3 in two weeks. Uncharted 3 releases on November 1 in the US for PS3.

“On PlayStation 3 for our first game, we were using probably only 30 percent of the power of the Cell, and this time we’re getting close to 100 percent of using the power of the PS3,” he said, talking in two making-of movies you can see after the break.

That’s it, then. Uncharted 2 is as good as PS3′s going to get. May as well bin it now, then.

In an interview with Edge, Naughty Dog co-president Christophe Balestra said that this time round, the Uncharted: Among Thieves team has something prove in the environment department.

“We wanted a wide range of environments this time,” explains Balestra. “We wanted to show this wasn’t just a jungle game.”

According to the article, Among Thieves looked anything but:

And, from what we’ve seen, the team has succeeded in this aim: alongside ice caverns and frozen mountainsides, we’re shown a real variety of environments, from lush indoor spaces filled with gold leaf and bright colours, to an opulent train with blood red curtains and swinging brass lights, and a desolate Nepalese monastery clinging to the side of a cliff.